ALBANY, N.Y. — Jan Jensen flashed a smile that knew it got away with murder most shooting foul. Ain’t coaching if you ain’t poaching.
“We’re trying to get in there, with (CU’s) JR (Payne winning), and trying to keep stealing them,” Iowa’s longtime associate head coach told me when I asked about the Hawkeyes recruiting Colorado.
“People come into Iowa to steal. We go into Minnesota to steal. You keep working, right?”
For one weekend, at least, MVP Arena in rusty, crusty downtown Albany felt like Denver Coliseum East. Five different Colorado prep products are representing the Centennial State at the Albany 1 and Albany 2 regionals this weekend — and at five different schools. One out of every 21 players knocking each other silly for a shot at the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four played high school hoops in and around the metro.
“Playing against those girls in Denver, obviously, you mentioned Lauren (Betts, ex-Grandview, now UCLA), then Addie O’Grady (Grandview to Iowa) was there for a year when I played her,” Oregon State forward and former Valor Christian star Raegan Beers said after helping the Beavers upset Notre Dame on Friday. “And Kindyll (Wetta, Valor to CU) was on my team, thankfully. I don’t want to play against her. So playing against those girls just prepared me to come here.”
They’re all here. Beers held up her end of the bargain, powering the Beavers to an Elite Eight showdown with top-seeded South Carolina on Sunday. Horizon grad Arielle Wisne’s Indiana Hoosiers darn near upset top-seeded South Carolina. Betts and her Bruins take on Angel Reese and LSU in the first of a star-studded twin bill Saturday, with CU vs. Iowa — Wetta and her teammates versus Caitlin Clark — rolling in as the nightcap.
Jensen has a theory for all this Centennial State Swag, and she’s sticking to it. Attitude, not altitude.
“It’s kind of like ‘must-see TV’ — when you recruit, you want to make sure you see the Colorado teams,” said Jensen, Lisa Bluder’s top lieutenant and the Hawkeyes’ recruiting coordinator.
“And I try to see not just the top ones. Because I’ve (found), my whole life, sometimes it’s the courts on the back 40 that have those blue-collar worker (types) … but I would say, if you asked every coach here, the perception of some of those top Colorado teams (is that) they have some really, really good talent.”
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A few hours later, Beers drove Jensen’s point home, time and again. She racked up her 30th double-double with the Beavs, dropping 18 points and 13 rebounds to eliminate the second-seeded Irish.
Her layup with 26 seconds left iced the game. Her one-handed stuff of Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo with 4:13 left in the third quarter helped preserve a 48-42 OSU lead. Yet who knew that the enforcer in the big black mask was motivated, in part, by the sight of her high school coach bringing a bag of her favorite candy to the team hotel on Friday morning?
“Just being sweet,” Valor’s Jessika Caldwell told me early Friday night. “Just to embrace the sweetness of this time.”
Caldwell did the Easter Bunny one better. Hello, Reese’s peanut butter cups. Hello, York Peppermint Patties. And a stuffed plushie in the shape of a lemonade glass.
“How much fun is this?” she chuckled after watching Beers rock the Irish from the stands in Albany. “… I felt like I was having to hold back just tears of joy and gratitude. And (I’m) so proud. And just to watch her be who she is, and compete with her team, it was so worth the ticket.”
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“I think what that says is, ‘Hey, we’re a force to be reckoned with,’” Caldwell said. “And it’s continued talent. It’s year after year.”
Iron sharpens iron. The Hawkeyes’ big Denver steal, Addison O’Grady, was supposed to play AAU ball with Wetta, but the latter missed their summer together because of a torn ACL. Beers made Lauren Betts better, and vice versa, from all those must-see TV tussles. All those bruises. All those scars.
“You can’t really compare college sports to AAU, but definitely, being on Premier (was) probably as close as you could get,” said O’Grady, who spent six years with the Premier Basketball Club, Keith Van Horn’s venerated outfit in Evergreen. “We had scouting reports. And, obviously, the travel. So it’s pretty similar. (It was still) different in a lot of ways, but I think it definitely helped.”
So, too, did her time with Van Horn, the ex-NBA big man and Utah Utes All-American. Footwork. Balance. Vision. Touch. Situational awareness. More iron. More sharpening.
“He helped a lot,” O’Grady said. “I mean, obviously, we were (playing the) same position. He taught me a lot of post moves. Just being a good post player and just a good player in general. (And in) recruiting, how to look good to college coaches, how to be a good teammate, like literally everything you could ask — not just a basketball player who’s also a really good coach.”
Forward Janelle Allen (10) of the Holy Cross Crusaders goes to the basket during the second half against forward Addison O’Grady (44) of the Iowa Hawkeyes during their match-up in the NCAA Tournament at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on March 23, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
And the Iowa thing, in hindsight, was a little bit of an inside job. Jensen spotted the work ethic right away and pictured a fit. It also didn’t hurt that O’Grady’s mom grew up in tiny Denison, Iowa, an hour north of nowhere and the birthplace of Donna Reed. Addy grew up attending CU and CSU games while her mom rooted for her beloved Hawkeyes.
“I just wanted to experience something else (in college),” she shrugged, “even though I love Colorado.”
So does Jensen.
And more by the day.
“I think we all really respect CU. The (job Payne) does — their staff is great. We really like their staff,” Jensen said. “I feel like they just do it the right way. I love how (the Buffs) play. I love their kids. Golly, I’d take them all, too.
“We had a nice battle last year. This year, it’s gonna be more of the same (Saturday). And whoever wins that one, I believe there are good players and good people that’ll get to advance.”
Something in that water. Gotta be.
“I think it might be (because) it’s pretty up there,” Jensen laughed. “Coors, what was their thing? ‘Brewed with Rocky Mountain spring water?’ Where’s Coors brewed?”
Golden. Just like the pipeline, shining from a Mile High.
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